CHILD WELFARE SERVICES

Press, Volume LXXXIIi, Issue 25214, 19 June 1947, Page 3

CHILD WELFARE SERVICES

WORK IN OVERSEAS COUNTRIES

ADDRESS BY DR. H. B. TURBOTT The pattern of child "welfare services. medical care for mothers and families, and the working of a variety of community centres, he had visited while overseas as a delegate to a conference called at New York last year by the United Nations to discuss world health organisation, were outlined by Dr. H. B. Turbott at the annual meeting of the Sunlight League last evening. Dr. Turbott is the Director of the Division of School Hygiene for the Health Department.

The work of the conference was made difficult by language barriers and national differences, he said, but at the conclusion it was agreed to set up a pool of knowledge and equipment with a trained staff that could make surveys -in any country in the world. If a country was agreeable this organisation could lend its full aid to raise the standards of health there. This idea was embodied in the form of a world charter of health, which would come into operation if 26 nations ratified it. It offered a new approach to the pressing problems of medical backwardness among many countries.

Describing some of the achievements of medical clinics which he had visited on a tour of England. Dr. Turbott said that expectant mothers there benefited under a system of extra rations. Residential nurseries were also available for mothers who became ill. or for the many who went to work each day. “Not only babies but toddlers were looked after most carefully all day at these centres by a well-trained staff.” Dr. Turbott said. Health centres were also available with specialist services in case of illness among a mother’s children. Meals for Children Meals in community nurseries and primary and secondary schools were described by Dr. Turbott as “beautifully done” in a vast state system which inssred that a little more than one-third of the child’s requirements of calories was provided each day. “They got 20 to 30 grammes of protein and the same amount of fats, which is a generous allowance,” he said, “After April 1 of this year these meals were supplied free of charge.” According to recent investigations, there was now less mortality in Britain among children and mothers because of the wise feeding of mothers during pregnancy, he said. The .British children, he thought, were outstanding compared with Canadians. Americans, Australians, and our own; but. of course, this could not be said for the adults, because they been getting this care. “While in England I visited a community centre at Tottenham,” Dr. Turbott said. “There was a restaurant with food, soft drinks, beer, and so on being served with various amusements nearby. There was a large swimming pool as well, and in the evening a school was available for adults who could undertake there any cultural or recreational studies they wished. At another centre, attendance was open to anyone who cared to undergo a medical inspection each year so that they could receive the attention provided under a health service that was part of the centre. In one of the building there. I noted a variety of activities. Young people were enjoying modern dancing, a ballet class was being held, several families were sitting talking round tankards of beer, and games of table tennis and darts were in progress. The entire families which used these facilities were under medical control by a group of doctors who could study not only their physical and social difficulties. but their spiritual and mental troubles. They were counsellors to the whole family—a conception that expresses the modern technique in medicine.”

After his address. Dr. Turbott was thanked on behalf of the league by Mrs J. Mowbray Tripp. Films dealing with the training of. babies and young children in good habits, and the activities of the children at the Glenelg health camp, were also shown during the evening. 4